Over the past decade the emphasis on the treatment of waste waters has steadily increased. "Superfunds" have been established to focus attention on discovering methodologies for groundwater pollution control. Frequent revelations of water pollution and new legislative initiatives and management strategies for pollution control heighten the awareness of the public of the growing problem. There is currently a heavy stress on industry to minimize their contribution to a problem that if not controlled, could reach crisis proportions in the next couple of decades. EPA effluent limitations for point source discharges into waterways or publicly owned treatment works emphasize the control of toxic materials. Among the many toxic materials identified by the EPA are heavy metals which include but are not limited to zinc, nickel, silver, chromium, lead, and arsenic. To protect the public health, EPA regulations have forced companies into compliance. Since the penalties for noncompliance can be severe, e.g. fines and closure, there is a strong incentive in industry to search for economic and efficient ways to meet the regulations.
The state of the art in industry is the use of neutralization and precipitation methods as techniques for removal of heavy metals from waste waters. Each method presents its own distinct disadvantage. In many cases one toxin is substituted for another which may minimize the individual contribution to pollution and meet the EPA regulations but does not eliminate pollution as a whole. Activated charcoal and polymeric ion exchange resins are also used in industry but they do not adsorb heavy metals very well. Their practicality is further diminished by the fact that these products are very expensive.
Thus, up to this point in time there has not really been an effective material available to industry to use for the removal of heavy metals from streams, waste waters, and the like.
What is needed in the industry, therefore, is an economic and effective process for the decontamination and removal of as many contaminating heavy metals as possible from waste waters, streams, and other bodies of water.